1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to stents for implanting into a living body. In particular, the present invention relates to intraluminal stents especially suited for implanting in a variety of lumens having variable characteristics, such as variable curvature, side branching, variable diameter, variable wall compliance or “end effects” of either the lumen, as found, e.g., in ostia, or the stent as the parameters may change at its ends.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is well known to use a stent to expand and impart support to different bodily conduits, such as blood vessels, by expanding a tube-like structure inside the vessel requiring support against collapse or closure. U.S. Pat. No. 5,449,373 shows a stent preferably used for vascular implantation as part of a balloon angioplasty procedure. The stent of U.S. Pat. No. 5,449,373 may be delivered through, or implanted in, a curved vessel. One shortcoming of conventional stents is that they may have deficiencies due to “end effects” where the ends of the stent tend to “flare out” during insertion or after expansion or have a decreased radial force at the end. Still another shortcoming of conventional stents is they do not have different characteristics, (e.g., flexibility and rigidity), to accommodate any changing characteristics of the section of the lumen requiring different stent characteristics.